The referral pathway [above] for women at risk of suicide in the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act.
Ireland – Making pregnant women jump through hoops since 1922.™
Download the Department of Health guidance document here.
Guidance document for abortion legislation published (RTÉ News)
(l-r) Bernie Smyth, Kathy Sinnott, Dana Rosemary Scallon
An anti-abortion protester accused of behaving like a witch told a Belfast court: “I’m no witch, I’m a Catholic”.
Bernadette Smyth, who leads the anti-abortion group Precious Life, was replying to a prosecution lawyer.
Mrs Smyth, of Suffolk Street, Ballymena, County Antrim, denies harassing Marie Stopes clinic director Dawn Purvis.
The lawyer suggested she had laughed at Ms Purvis in a “cackling, jeering, mocking way, in a witch’s manner.”
Ms Smyth replied: “I can’t agree with this court that I’m a witch. I’m a Catholic.”
The case concerns two incidents involving the accused that happened outside the Marie Stopes Clinic, Great Victoria Street, Belfast, in January and February.
The case continues.
Catholic of the Year 2013, awarded by the Knights of St. Columbanus no less.
It’s not a Golden Cleric but it’s a start.
Bernadette Smyth tells court: ‘I’m no witch, I’m a Catholic’ (BBC News NI)
Charge of harassing former MLA a set-up says pro-life lobbyist (Irish News)
Previously: Bernie Smyth on Broadsheet
File Pic: Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland
Socialist Party TD Ruth Coppinger raised the issue of repealing the Eighth Amendment in the Dáil yesterday.
Not to worry.
There’s a report pending.
Update:
This afternoon Clare Daly, Mick Wallace and Ruth Coppinger challenged the Minister for Health Leo Varadkar on the Eighth Amendment.
Clare Daly told the Minister to:
“Wise up. You’re a young man. Ireland’s abortion reality and rates are pretty much the same as they are in every other country.”
Mick Wallace asked the Minister,
“Is the Government more focused on the next election than on the suffering caused by the denial of services to women seeking abortions due to rape, incest, fatal foetal abnormality or serious risk to health?”
Ruth Coppinger suggested the referendum on marriage equality and repeal of the Eighth Amendment be held on the same day and said:
“It would be a double endorsement of progress in this country. It would be a signal to the rest of the world that the Catholic Church’s writ doesn’t run despite the wishes of the majority in society and it would be a hammer blow to the Catholic Church’s domination of many areas of life in this country.”
Minister Varadkar replied:
“I think it would be a really bad idea in 2015 if in the run-in to a general election for us to have that kind of debate happening in that millieu because we’ve been there before. That’s exactly what happened in 1983. In the run-up to a general election people were put in a position where they made commitments in the run-in to a general election where maybe they shouldn’t have. So let’s not repeat the mistake of 1983 and have all that again in 2015.
…It shouldn’t be done on foot of a tragedy or a very hard case and it shouldn’t be done on the run-in to a general election.”
Earlier: What Do We Want
Pro Choice protestors outside Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin last night calling for the government to name a date for a referendum to repeal the Eight Amendment of the constitution
From second pic: Naomi and Keziah Keenan O Shea; Ciara Shorthall; Maria Mackay and Clare Foley.
(Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland)
Further to his earlier appearance.
Senator Ronan Mullen speaking in the Seanad earlier on the issue of Direct Provision:
The treatment of women in the system is deplorable. There are several male-only reception centres in the State. But there are none which provide solely for women. Many women who seek asylum in the State are fleeing the most gruesome and most unimaginable conditions sometimes involving sexual abuse or rape. And for these victims to be placed in a system where there’s an underlying fear perhaps in some cases of a recurrence of abuse is really shocking.
*cough*
Listen here.
Download here.
Earlier: A Place Apart
Previously: Say It Ain’t Ro
Protests outside the Marie Stopes clinic in Belfast in 2012
An abortion clinic in Belfast has been training volunteers to escort clients past anti-abortion protesters. Escorts trained in the use of body-worn cameras have been accompanying clients of the Marie Stopes clinic to and from its city centre building.
A Northern Ireland Assembly member has said the measure is an over-reaction to the protests. There have been regular protests since the clinic opened in Great Victoria Street in 2012.
Clinic director Dawn Purvis said the protests were having an effect on clients, and that the clinic had to respond. “The women that come to us are very upset and very frightened by the behaviour of the protesters,” she said. “Our volunteers have been through a vetting scheme and a very intense training course in de-escalation methods and how to deal with conflict.”
The escorts have also been trained in additional security measures including body-worn CCTV cameras and distress calls.
However, DUP MLA Jim Wells supports the protests outside the clinic and said they are important and peaceful. “I have spoken to some of the protesters and they do try to talk to women and persuade them not to have an abortion, but certainly watching what goes on, I don’t see anything that would cause me concern.” He said the clinic has gone “over the top” by introducing the escort scheme and additional security measures.
Meanwhile, an harassment case against Precious Life founder Bernie Smyth is due to resume on Tuesday next.
Anti-abortion campaigner harassed Purvis, court told (Irish News)
Marie Stopes clinic in protest escorts move (Robbie Meredith, BBC News NI)
Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland
On last night’s Tonight with Vincent Browne, Vincent was joined by UCD lecturer Ailbhe Smyth and John McGuirk to review the newspapers.
The discussion turned to Paul Cullen’s story in the Irish Times of staff in University Hospital Galway being disciplined in relation to the care of Savita Halappanavar.
Watch in full here.
Hospital staff in Savita Halappanavar case ‘disciplined’ after review (Paul Cullen, Irish Times)
Previously: When Dr Boylan Met Dr Kiely
An American anti-abortion healthcare provider is planning to open a clinic in Belfast, the BBC has learned. Stanton Healthcare aims to have a clinic operating in the city centre by early 2015.
Representatives from Stanton Healthcare recently visited Belfast, and the BBC understands that they have identified premises on Great Victoria Street in the city as a site for the clinic. The facility would therefore be close to Belfast’s Marie Stopes clinic, which has been open since 2012.
The BBC understands that Stanton Healthcare plans to offer pregnancy counselling and also medical facilities like ultrasound scans. The firm has claimed that over 90% of what they describe as “abortion-vulnerable women” who have ultrasound scans at their Boise clinic choose to give birth.
However, its staff are working closely with the Northern Ireland-based anti-abortion organisation, Precious Life. Bernadette Smyth from Precious Life welcomed Stanton Healthcare’s plans. “We would hope that women in crisis pregnancy would be given free ultrasound, free pregnancy tests and support,” she told BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster programme. “We want to provide a better service that’s not available here.”
Stanton Healthcare to open anti-abortion clinic in Belfast (Robbie Meredith, BBC News NI)
Previously: Pure Hatstand
Ultra Sound
Meanwhile, On Great Victoria Street, Belfast
On last night’s Tonight with Ger Colleran, Ger was joined by Caroline Simons (Pro Life Campaign), Dr Máire Nesta Nic Ghearailt (Every Life Counts), Dr Peter Boylan (National Maternity Hospital Holles St) and Ruth Bowie (TFMR) to discuss abortion in cases of rape, incest and terminations for medical reasons (TFMR).
Ger Colleran: “You’re advocating that the medical or the legal prohibition on termination of such pregnancies [fatal foetal abnormalities] continue?”
Caroline Simons: “I’m advocating that the best position in the interests of women and in the interests of unborn babies is that there be a right to life for both and that the mother inevitably comes first because you cannot fail to look after a mother, without losing a baby as well.”
Hmmmm.
Watch in full here.
